State of the Position 2024: Tight Ends
Rivaldo Fairweather's return has Auburn set up for even more success at this position in 2024 — and the future looks promising, too.
This is Part 6 of an Auburn football 2024 season preview series that we’re calling “State of the Position.” It’s a breakdown of the past, present and future of each group on the Tigers’ roster as they look to end their streak of losing seasons and take a significant step forward this fall.
The goal is to run a pair of these each week. The original plan was for these to run on Wednesday and Thursday mornings, but some schedule changes pushed them up to Tuesday and Wednesday this week.
STATE OF THE POSITION: QB • WR • LB • EDGE • RB
TE Rivaldo Fairweather (Jamie Holt/Auburn Tigers)
The Past
One big quirk of Auburn’s current streak of three straight losing seasons is that it’s come with what some fans had been wanting for years: production at tight end.
Tight ends didn’t get the ball thrown their way for the majority of the Gus Malzahn era on the Plains. Malzahn’s first two seasons featured C.J. Uzomah — who is still playing the position in the NFL — but he had only 11 catches in each campaign. Outside of some sporadic performances from hybrid players Sal Cannella and Jay Jay Wilson, the Tigers used tight ends more as extra blockers than versatile weapons.
When Bryan Harsin took over as head coach, Auburn was expected to use the tight end more in his preferred pro-style offense. John Samuel Shenker broke decades-old program records for tight ends in both receptions (33) and receiving yards (413). A year later, he became the first tight end in program history to catch at least 20 passes in multiple seasons.
With Shenker out of eligibility following the 2022 season, Auburn needed to find a replacement for Hugh Freeze’s spread system. The Tigers quickly landed on Rivaldo Fairweather, who put up strong numbers on a pretty bad FIU offense.
Fairweather, a 6-foot-4 and 251-pound target who moved well for his size, was quickly plugged into an offense that returned blocking-first tight ends Luke Deal and Brandon Frazier — along with the seldom-used Tyler Fromm and youngster Micah Riley.
After zero catches in the opener against UMass, Fairweather almost singlehandedly won the Cal game for Auburn with a huge fourth-down reception and a game-winning touchdown.
Fairweather would go on to lead Auburn in receptions (38, breaking Shenker’s recently set tight end record), receiving yardage (394, now No. 2 in program history) and touchdowns (6, trailing only the late Philip Lutzenkirchen’s 7 in 2011). In a passing offense with plenty of issues, he was one of the few reliable parts.
Of course, the underlying theme behind Auburn’s sudden surge in tight end usage over the last few seasons is the lack of quality wide receiver play. Even the elite tight ends operate best as a secondary option in the offense, because they usually lack the top-tier speed to be the primary playmakers. The fact that Fairweather played a large percentage of his snaps split outside wasn’t a great sign.
With so many struggles for Auburn’s wide receivers over the last several seasons, the tight ends have had to step up more than they probably should. Having to really lean on the matchup-winners over the middle of the field can get things done, but it can also limit the ceiling of a passing attack.
It beats the heck out of not having any reliable playmakers at all, though.
Auburn’s tight end room was more than just Fairweather taking on a huge amount of responsibility in the offense. Frazier, who had four catches in his first three seasons at Auburn combined, had seven receptions and a pair of touchdowns. Riley actually got on the field, recording a long touchdown catch in a win over FCS team Samford. Fromm’s production was the one that took a step backwards, and it came as little surprise when he decided to transfer to Georgia Southern this offseason.
Then there was Deal, who was only targeted twice in the passing game but played 254 offensive snaps last fall — the seventh-most of any skill position player on the roster. He played a role in Auburn’s rushing attack having another solid season, and his presence was noticeable when the Tigers somewhat caught fire on the ground in the second half of the campaign.
Under position coach Ben Aigamaua, who followed Freeze from Liberty to Auburn, the Tigers brought everybody at tight end but Fromm back for the 2024 season and brought in another intriguing player for the future. Now the question will be how the position group can build on what it showed in Year 1 of a new era.